Download that GIMP first ... is it free, right, John?
I never used it but I think it's a cool application, I will have to learn it. But I think the principle of all graphic design applications are the same. Just like any other graphic design program, it should have basic function like crop, then crop your pirate from the big background. Then you have to delete or clean up the surrounding. There is a laso tool in Photoshop (bitmap-based) to take out the big chunks of the background, or use eraser tool to clean parts meticulously. This is in bitmap mode though ... so you will end up saving your pirate as a jpg (most probably).
Then go to GIMP (or any other vector-based application). I would assume that you can do layers. Put your pirate at the very front layers, and add as many layers as you would like for the background. It's easier to edit and move around if you use layers, cause you can move each layer independently around. Then start drawing on each layer ... like abstract thing, or text, or stars or basically whatever ... you can even paste or import another image or photo into it if you want to. You can make special effect on every layer, for instance, you can put a 'glowing effect' or 'shadow' or fading effect ... around your pirate, or any abstract shape that you just drew. The sky is the limit ... this is where "creativity" takes actions!
Now the image result of this vector-based applications is usually not jpg, but you can always convert it to a jpg or gif at the very end when you are completely done, in order to upload it in your YouTube. Just a note, we always want to edit the image in the original GIMP program, because you need the vector quality ... that's what makes everything looks 'smooth', like in signatures that John does, i.e. glow, shadow, splash, lightning; all look smooth. Bitmap cannot produce those, because it's completely different concept.
The "hard" part is matching the exact lines around each box like in you tube, you have so many sections. But you can 'trick' it by using tracing paper and draw over your computer screen how big and where the exact position of each box is. And I usually always leave one layer as a background, and put it on the very back of all layers. It's cool if you make graduated colors, and set your opacity to below 100% (means it becomes transparent), then you can see any layer underneath it showing through.
If you want me to extract your pirate and clean him up for you, just let me know. Then I'll post it in here for you, ready to use. Good luck and have fun!
. It took 2 hours O_O!
